


Reluctance Ecstasy

by shaz345



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Historical, M/M, OOC, Pre-Slash, Probably ooc, Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-18
Updated: 2017-12-18
Packaged: 2019-02-16 16:15:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13057569
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shaz345/pseuds/shaz345
Summary: During the Great Fear during the France Revolution, Minseok; the only son of the village's seigniory, ran away with his friend, Luhan, the bakerboy towards their upcoming happiness. Away from everything. Away from the raids, away from the canons and the gunshots. Only them...XiuMin Historical AU Oneshot.





	Reluctance Ecstasy

**Author's Note:**

> Unbeta'd. Originally posted on AFF. I made this for my friend last year. I'm sorry for errors and mistakes I made. Enjoy~

We ran and ran. I don't know if the sun had risen yet or not as we had ran inside the underground tunnel for hours without stopping. The sound of canons and gunshots can still be heard up upon us. For a brief moment we stopped as the underground ceiling started to shake as if it will fall off. Luhan glanced at me worriedly as he held my hand and pulled me to start running again. Since the rumors had started to spread, Luhan had been worried sick about me. Worried as if the worst kind of thing would happen to me.

  _Well, it almost happen..._

 If it wasn't because of Luhan, I would be dead already; like my parents and Guinevere, my butler. I really hope my cat Peter and Paucey-my horse, made it alive at least. I didn't know what happened.

 I was sleeping like a log on my silk bed and the next thing I knew, Luhan closed my mouth tightly and grabbed me away from the mansion. The last thing I saw was Guinevere's soft smile, my parents's body and the burned Entrace Hall. Luhan closed my eyes next but I knew he was killed after that. By whom? I don't know.

 When Luhan opened my eyes again, I saw Miss Tulips infront of us. I knew her as the bright herbs seller; always smiling and sometimes she would gave Luhan and I a cup of herbs tea and she would complain to us about her brother.

 But right now she was different. Her beautiful smiling face was full of hatred. Her usual twinkle eyes was no more and what was left was livid determination. I didn't notice she was holding an axe until she swung it madly toward me.

 "It's your fault! Your fault! Don't you know how hard it is for us to find that kind of money?! You greedmoneyeatersonofa-" I was frozen. I closed my eyes tightly and prepared for the worse. But the blow never come as Luhan hit her head hard using a log and made her unconcious. Without checking her out, Luhan threw his shirt over me and pulled me to walk faster.

 "Luhan, you just hit her"

 "Yes, I did"

 "Why? What is going on actually? Where are you taking me? Why were they-" Before I could ask further, Luhan pushed me into a familiar building. It was the bakery shop where Luhan worked and lived. Before I could open my mouth to ask again, a set of commoner cloth was threwn to me.

 "Change your clothes. That way people won't notice your expensive attire" Luhan said to me in a rush tone as he quickly packed a few things. Seeing how pale and rush Luhan was, I could only follow his command without saying anything. I knew something bad was happening but seeing how pale and relief Luhan was when he grabbed me, I knew it was worse.

 Luhan threw me a bag filled with clothes, food, drinks and other nescesities we need to survive, and he pushed a huge oven away. Helping Luhan, I was quite flabbergasted when I saw a hole with stairs going underneath, the hole was big enough for a huge adult to went through.

 "Let's go. We don't have much time" He said as he pulled me and letting me went down first.

 And that was how we ended up down here. Underneath the ground. Inside the underground tunnel (Luhan said it was a sewer but the word 'tunnel' made it better) that went somewhere.

 "Luhan, we've been running since forever. C-can we stop and rest for a moment?" I pleaded as I took my breath. Luhan let go of my hand and nodded.

 Laying on the hard floor, I could only watched Luhan sat beside me. He was all tensed and on guard. He was all but silence. It wasn't like I can blame him. It was hell up there. We saw our neighbours trying to kill each other in the raids and the corpses of our friends laying cold on the ground. Kind of weird the fact I don't feel anything.

 "Hey Luhan, can you tell me what's going on up there? Why they behaved like that?" I asked him. Luhan looked reluctant to tell me but he sighed as if pushing those refusal feelings away and told me;

"There was rumors this past week. Rumors where the rich will exterminate and execute those who lives in porverty. The fact that the taxes price had rised to that ridiculus amount didn't help either. People like me, the porverty, went mad and decided to burn you and your family off"

"Then, Miss Tulips just now-"

"Yes, but she has her own reason. Her brother died last night because she couldn't afford the doctors and medicines as they had raisen up their prices also" Luhan said deadpannedly. I could only bowed my head and thought of the things happening to me.

"But mother and father would never agree with the taxes rises so why were they killed? Guinevere shouldn't be involved in this" I said lowly.

"I know" Luhan said as he patted my head. Before I knew it, I had already fallen asleep.

 

* * *

 

I woke up as the tunnel shook again. Luhan's head perked up when he heard a small army of footsteps coming towards us. We quickly ran again.

"Luhan, do you actually know where are we going?" I asked him under my heavy huffing breath as we ran.

"I don't know"

"ARE YOU FU-"

"But wherever my feet lead us to, I knew it's our way out. Out and free from all of this. Place where you can live happily and independently. A place where there's no slavery and poverty. I'm going to get you out safely. I promise"

Hearing Luhan's promise, I could only trust him and smile.

 

* * *

 

"Luhan, what are we going to do after this?" I asked Luhan. Probably shocked with the sudden question, Luhan looked at me as if I've just grown another head.

"You don't think about it yet?" Luhan smirked mockingly. Oh how I wished I could punch his face right then.

"This is all happen to sudden okay? You know I was never allowed to decide things for myself. Everything was just there for me" I didn't realised I was pouting and how whiney I was that moment until Luhan laughed at me. Wiping his tears, Luhan suddenly ruffled my hair (he had been doing that lately) and said to me;

"Well, I guess the time has come for our dearest young highness to learn how to be independent" When I heard him, I could feel my face turned pale at the word 'independent'. The fact that Luhan laughed at me didn't make me feel any better.

"Oh relax, Minseok. It isn't that bad. It would be great"

"If you say so..." That was what I said but the mischivous grin on Luhan's face made me nervous. I hate when he had those grins on his face. It made me felt paranoid as if he would jump at me any moment. After a moment of comfortable silence, I spoke again.

"So, how about you? What will you do after this? I mean, like me, I would have to learn on living independently with simpler life and learn to be more grateful with everything. What about you? What's your plan?" I know some people could get frusterated or uncomfortable when talking about the future, but I never guess Luhan was one of those people before.

"I...don't really know actually" Luhan said as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"Oh come on, think of something then. Getting married with some girl maybe? Having 5 healthy kids and then named one of them with my name and I would become their godfather. Come on, don't tell me you never thought about it before"

"Minseok ah, I'm not pretty sure about getting married and having kids" As Luhan said that, I could see how uncomfortable his smile were. I wondered why he dislike the idea of getting married and creating a small army of kids.

"But, after this I would probably stay around for awhile and make sure you could live atleast 3 days by yourself in porverty. I could teach you how to bake and we can open a bakery together. We could save an extra money by fishing. Remind me to teach you how to fish later. When the money is enough, I would probably go and travels to know the world better and go home. Back to China. You could follow me if you want"

At that moment, my admiration toward Luhan had intensify greatly into something I couldn't understand myself. Does the feeling of admiration can really make the heartbeat beats faster than ever? Feels somethings fluttering inside my stomach? The wanted feelings to reach for his hand and never let it go forever?

Suddenly I remembered when Luhan told me about his story. Luhan was brought here to France by the slavery auction from China. He was a mere 8 years old when he was bought by Mr. Jean, the baker. A kind man who treated Luhan like his own son. It had been his dream to return to his main land someday and I admired him for that alone.

Guinevere had told me one day about me. He told me that I was bought by my parents when I was a baby. The day I met Luhan was pure coincidence and we greeted each other with a punch. It wasn't a clean fight and it wasn't the best way to create a relationship but it turned out to be a great memory.

Smiling at Luhan, I shook my head.

"It's a great idea. I would like to go travelling with you but I would've to decline your idea of staying in China. I'm quite fond of this country"

"If you say so..." Luhan said with an understanding on his voice and a forced smile on his face.

 

* * *

 

For days we had been walking and running. I don't know where we were and I doubted Luhan knew better. The sounds of cannons and gunshots were still there but not as much. I didn't realised Luhan had stopped walking until I bumped into him.

"Hey! What are yo-"

"Shhh.." Luhan closed my mouth tightly. Quite surprised with his suddened movement, I bit his hand hard until it bleed. Luhan hissed in silent as if to hide from something but I was too angry to realise.

"Why did you do that for?!" Then, I heard them.

"There's someone in there! Catch them!"

Three military men heading towards us. Without any delay, Luhan pulled me along and started to run. We ran as fast as we could but they still behind us. I tried not to look back when I heard a gunshot had been fired.

Luhan quickly turned left and ran as fast as he could while pulling me. I started to feel like a burden to him. While we ran, I noticed a few bodies of commoners scattering everywhere. If we wasn't in such a tight situation, Luhan would've probably close my eyes and I would've gag because of the smell.

Then, infront of us, there was an army of commoners. My head was too occupied to register a plan I didn't realised my feet was getting slower. Luhan turned his head to look at me. Our eyes met for a moment before his eyes looked behind me and went wide. He tugged me foward and kicked my back until I fall foward. I could only blinked at the sudden movement.

When I turned my head, blood splattered all over my face. Took me a while for me to register what had just happened.

_Luhan's blood._

He was stabbed.

Two swords can be clearly seen penetrating his body. I could feel the ache on my stomach as it dropped. My heart was beating like there would be no tomorrow; thinking of the worse thing possible.

As I saw Luhan fell, my memories with Luhan when we were together, flashed all at once like those images on magic lantern. My head could only think of one thing.

 _'Luhan!_ '

The commoners saw us and the militaries. Their eyes glazed over the militaries and I could see their eyes flared with fury. I don't know what happened after that as my eyes focused solely on Luhan.

Crawling toward Luhan since my legs had given up on me, I held Luhan tightly in my arms. Ignoring the blood pouring out from him.

"N-no, Luhan! Stay with me! Open your eyes please" I pleaded.

"Minseok..." Luhan touched my face and wiped off the blood of my face with his own bloodied hand.

"L-Luhan? Oh God, Luhan. D-don't speak. I'm sure we can fix this. Just ho-" To my horror, Luhan had started to cough out blood.

"We both knew I couldn't make it s-so don't bother _//cough out blood//_. Minseok, listen to me-"

"No Luhan! We're going to make it together! I will not leave you!" I said again, trying to fill my heart with false hope. I knew, I knew he don't have much time left but my heart didn't stop praying and hoping. Ignoring what I had just said, Luhan continued.

"-search for those people again. Ask them the way to the nearby port i-if p-possible" Luhan coughed again.

"I'm sorry. But atleast you _//cough blood//_ could make it. I know you can. Go and find a wife and live happy for me" I held Luhan's hand. Afraid he'll drifted off without me. I shook my head and my eyes started to sting and there was a lump in my throat.

"No! We will get out together. You- you promised me you will help me out of this. You promised to teach me how to bake. You said we will open a bakery together. You said you will teach me how to fish. Don't leave me" Clenching his hand hard, I couldn't stop but to cry. I tried to stop the bleed on his stomach but it was useless. He had lost too much blood.

Luhan smiled. He pulled me by my neck until our forehead touched each other.

"I'm sorry, Minseok... I g-guess I have to break that p-promise"

"Luhan ah! Stop talking like that! This isn't you at all! Oh my god, please- Somebody help!" I tried to look for someone to help us. I choke in tears when there was no one there. _Only us._

"T-there's nobody here, b-but I know we could make it, Luhan ah. So, please, stay with me..." I pressed harder on Luhan's wound. It would not stop bleeding!

"...You need to g-go" Luhan grabbed my shoulder. His bloodied hand stained my clothes. On usual days, I would be really mad and Luhan would tease me about how I fuss about a piece of clothes...

But today was not a usual day.

"Stop it, Luhan. This is not funny! You will survive this! You heard me?!" I softly hit his face again and again, hoping to wake him up from his delusions. Deep down I know this is probably the end, but I won't accept it. I still dared myself to hope.

To hope for Luhan...

_Hope for our future together..._

"Liste- Minseok ah, listen t-to me!"

"Stop talking, Lu-"

"Min ah... please...?" Luhan's hold on my hand, tightened. I stopped and looked at him. My heart and my hope started to shatter when I saw his beautiful face full of sadness and desperation. I hate the smile he tried to give me. I could see he was in pain. I could see his skin became paler each second. I hate this. I want to scream and wail. But I held back my tears.

"I'm sorry f-for making you cry..." Luhan gently caressed my cheek. I could feel the blood on his hand, but I don't care as I leaned on his touch.

"Promise me... you'll d-do as I s-aid..." I choke once again when Luhan said that. I don't like this. I hate this. But I couldn't say no to Luhan. Not when he was like this.

"I promise..." Oh how beautiful the smile he gave me at that moment. I forced a smile and a laugh even when the tears fell again.

"Yah, you're the one who was stabbed and yet you are still worried about me. Why are you such a gentleman?" I choked on my tears as I said this and leaned my forehead against his.

_Oh god, this is so painful..._

"...It's b'cause I l..ove you, Kim Minseok" Luhan whispered softly before his breathing went slow before it stopped completely.

Silence.

Then it all struck to me like a thunder. Making my heart ache like no other. Hearing his words made me feel happy, joy, sadness, and despair, all at the same time as the realisation came upon me. All the memories with him flashed upon me. I remembered how he always fiercely protecting me, how he always look at me with a soft gaze, how he always worried about me, how he always look at me whenever I asked him about his crush or his future plan. Oh why didn't I realise it before?

_Luhan loves me_

_He loves me_

_All this time..._

"Luhan? L-Luhan? Hey, wake up please. Don't do this to me..." I tried to wake him up. But I knew he was not there anymore. His hand that was caressing my cheek before, fell as his body went limp without a soul. I could feel his body slowly went cold.

_Luhan is gone forever..._

And I don't even have the time to say my goodbye. To say how grateful I am until this moment...

_To say how much I love him..._

And at that moment, I cried my heart out.

 

* * *

 

It took me a while to get myself back together. There was no tears left to be shed. My throat hurt, my heart and soul felt empty and numb.

 _Oh god, is this what it feels like when you're losing the one you are destined with?_ I asked in my heart as I smiled hurtfully to the sky.

I caress Luhan's face gently, remembering every details I can before placing a kiss on his forehead. I looked at his face. He looked so calm. There was no worries or stress lines on his face. Oh how I wish he was just sleeping and this was all happened to be a joke...

But I knew it was a wish that will never come true.

In my grief moment, all I could say was;

_"Thank you, my love"_

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading. Feel free to leave a comment (pls do).


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